That's hiarious and yet very informative. It's going on my "favorite's" list. I loves this quote from the site, "the huddled masses deserve a clean place to sit."

The Times Square Alliance info center has rest rooms and you can use the restrooms at the Tavern on the Green (classy!) since they occupy city property.

Well the public facilities use to be called "Ladies Room" for the women and "Men's Room" for the men. That makes it simple but guess like a lot of things maybe those terms are no longer in use?

I've 'gone' at the Starbucks, Burger King and McDonalds on Canal near Broadway.
Daughter, who worked at Starbucks a long time says that NO Starbucks can require a purchase. It is a corporate policy. They may have a 'customer only' sign but they cannot enforce it.
All Starbuck storefront locations are corporate owned, btw.

I've lived here for close to 20 years.

If you're in a pinch, the best solution is to find the nearest restaurant, just explain politely that you really need to use the facilities, and most of the time you shouldn't have a problem. Sometimes as a courtesy, I'll leave a dollar tip at the bar. This isn't necessary, but since I used to pay my rent while pursuing my passion by working in restaurants years ago, I do this as a little dose of kindness. A simple 'thank you' is enough.

There are also public restrooms in Grand Central, on the food court level. And as mentioned above, almost never an issue at Starbucks. If you are in Central Park, there are public restrooms near Sheep's Meadow. Though I am sure Tavern on the Green is nicer. Bergdorf's restrooms have the best view...

Now here's a funny story for you. Before I became a memeber of Actor's Equity, I and all the other non-union performers were only allowed to wait for hours to 'maybe' be seen for auditions at the Equity center in a small cramped hallway. Non-union members are not allowed to enter the union lounge area unless they have been admitted to audition. During the waiting time, if you needed to 'relieve' yourself, or even change for the audition...we had to go to the McDonald's in the same building (the one at Duffy Square, not 42nd street) - no pity from the monitor to let us use the restroom in the union lounge. Shortly before I earned my union card, McD's posted a sign that the restrooms were for customers only. We still used their bathroom to change and get ready. So if you are ever in the 'loo' in Times Square and see a bunch of girls putting on more makeup than normally accepted during daylight (false eyelashes are a giveaway for the chorus girls)hours or changing in the stalls...know that you are witnessing the future hopefuls of Broadway prepping to get ready to try to get a job.

BTW- I got my card, and can now use the facilities any time I need to, whether I'm auditioning or not.

Hey mommacl... I live in Sachse. My Dad lives in Mabank. We used to ride in lots of rodeos in Kaufman!
Have fun in NYC!

lp_ nyc
that's a great story. If I'm in a McDonald's & see ladie's needing to change for the audition & they(the MCD monitors) are looking for reciepts of customers,I'll pass mine on.
TxTravelPro
Hello to you too!

Are thre more people replying to this than the NY posters?Does this show up in other threads?

Starbucks & bookstores.

If you're in a department store, bingo.

mommaci, what are you asking?
All threads which are posted in the US forum show up when anyone comes to the US forum and starts reading. I think a lot of us don't come here and click to search just the posts relating to a particular state. But it seems to me that all the answers are relating to New York City. Is that your question?

Clicking a state when you post does not put your post in a separate place, but it does mean that if someone comes here and clicks that state he will only get the posts that the poster also clicked that state for.

NeoPatrick
Is this a big shock?,…. I’m new to this.
Yes, that’s what I’m asking .I guess I’m a little slooow.
Actually I feel like an idiot! I couldn’t figure out where all those people that posted yesterday were coming from!

What’s very interesting is that I got 10x’s more hits on my potty question than I did on trip advice I had posted previously . It also was a little refreshing .

By the way, to all of you so kindly mapped out my “facility” breaks, Thank you.

I think it's a fact of life here that more people may want to talk about "pottys" than they do about travel in general.

Don't feel like an idiot. I have yet to figure out how a new poster here would know how the posting works. Thanks for listening. Sometimes when the explanation is offered, those of us trying to explain get yelled at for being rude and "correcting" new posters, something I just don't "get".

I think it's a fact of life here that more people may want to talk about "pottys" than they do about travel in general.

Don't feel like an idiot. I have yet to figure out how a new poster here would know how the posting works. Thanks for listening. Sometimes when the explanation is offered, those of us trying to explain get yelled at for being rude and "correcting" new posters, something I just don't "get".

What's also interesting is that although we often complain about vague titles, your post seems to show that a lot of people opened your thread just to see what you were "sorry" about, including posters who might ignore yet another post titled "New York hotel question".

NeoPatrick
I don’t get offended that easily ,besides I recognize that I tend to live in a state of confusion .
Plus I’ve read some of your posts & you don’t seem to bite first.

I really didn’t intend to be that vague. I just didn’t know how to approach the subject.

To bad we didn’t plan this, it made a good social experiment.

Don't feel too bad. I've been here a long time and as you can see by my double post above, I still don't get it. Apparently I went back to edit my post to add a paragraph and did something wrong and ended up posting it new, instead of changing the old one. Just when I think I have something figured out, it goes wrong. Now to work on the time change tonight. . .

Hi Patrick, my experience has been..if you do NOT click on Preview My Reply when you first type your post and then click on Edit etc., you cannot go back and Edit your post that has been posted. But if you DO click on Preview my Reply and then Edit etc., you can edit your formerly posted post.

If I'm following you right, you're saying that when I'm done typing this post and if I post it without previewing it, I won't be able to go back later and preview it, edit it, and then repost to replace it?
That hasn't been my experience. But I'll try.


Nope. I posted this once without previewing but included a line I then came back to and removed it while adding this line.

I would say that bathroom facilities are a VERY important part of traveling!
It's amazing how hard it is to find one in some European cities... in fact, I would even say that it should be call Eur-NOT-a-peein' more often than not!
Where the heck do they go?

Hi Patrick, I don't know, I was able to edit without doing the editing the first time before I posted with no problem. But after a day or so I couldn't so I tried the editing before I first posted and then I did not have any problem editing after I posted. So who knows, lol!

mommacl.....I had to look at who was posting the "lived in NYC until I was 12, born there, then moved away, going back 30 yrs. later". That sounds like me! except I realized I moved away at 14.!! Anyway, it's been fun reading your "column". I'm looking to visit NYC after 35 years.....and I DO want to stay in the thick of things! I'm a city girl at heart, and can't wait to get back for a visit. My memory of NYC "facilities" is paying to use them in midtown (eg. Saks across from Rock Ctr.) Wonder if that's still true? will soon find out! Have a great trip!